Release conscientious objectors Tair Kaminer and Tanya Golan

Use this form to send the letter below to the relevant authority (Minister of Defence Moshe Ya`alon). You can add your own notes in a separate box after the standard text, if you wish. You must include a name, address, and email address; a copy will be sent to you with a cc to the WRI office (so we have a record of how many email letters have been sent out for this particular case).

Dear Moshe Ya'alon,

Tair Kaminer and Tanya Golan have been imprisoned for their refusal to join the Israeli military.

Tair Kaminer and Tanya Golan refuse to enlist in the Israeli Army based on beliefs and conscience. They claim their human right to conscientious objection, as guaranteed by Article 18 of the ICCPR. In a decision from January 2007, the United Nations Human Rights Committee recognised the right to conscientious objection as a legitimate exercise of the right to freedom of thought, conscience, and religion, as guaranteed by Article 18 ICCPR.

This is Tair Kaminer's second imprisonment. Repeated imprisonment is a violation of international legal standards. The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention in opinion 24/2003 on Israel came to the conclusion that the repeated imprisonment of conscientious objectors in Israel is arbitrary, and therefore it constitutes a violation of 14 par 7 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, of which Israel is a signatory.

I urge you to immediately release Tair Kaminer and Tanya Golan, all other conscientious objectors, and ensure they are not re-imprisoned in future.